As one might suspect, the Nedor Heroes dominate, in part no thanks to their renewed exposure from Project Superpowers. Black Terror, Daredevil, and Fighting Yank showed up on all three lists. Not sure how Amazing Man got in there. Poor Green Lama didn't seem to make the cut at all, only appearing on one list. (Others who came close to the top ten were American Eagle, Silver Streak and Doc Strange)
I was also surprised to only see one Quality character show up on more than one list (Uncle Sam). One of my favorites, The Human Bomb, is missing.

So I ask you - who would you add to this list? Which of your favorite Public Domain characters is missing?

17 comments:

Cool Uncle Sam made the list!**********************************The original Blackhawk stories are PD, well worth reading esp. the ones with Woolfolk writing and Reed Crandall art.********************************Amazing man with his eastern mystic origins, and Everett artwork I'm glad to see he made the list. Also glad to see my two favorites Daredevil and Airboy. The Airboy stories have some of the most original concepts, well done, of any Golden age hero I have read. People writing at Marvel and DC need to read the lot to get some better ideas to swipe. ***********************************Steel Sterling (with Charles Biro as a creator/maybe)from Zip comics is a fav of mine, Superman archetype, but he could ruffle his hair to use his magnetic powers. Nothing like a character who is bullet proof, that can also use his 'magnetic force' to rip guns out of crooks hands from across the room.******************************the Crimebuster stories from Boy comics are some of the hardest hitting 'costumed hero vs. criminals' stories I have ever read. You wouldn't see it's like again until the Dark Age with some Batman stories.

@Reno - good point about the absence of Red Circle characters (Pierre is a big Shield Fan if I remember correctly - though it may be just the costume. I like the Fly too.)

I wonder if some of the lack of popularity for those characters over at Public Domain Superheroes might not be that they aren't quite in public domain (just their old comics are?) That would explain the big lack of Quality Heroes and any of the Fawcett characters too.

Something that might be worth clarifying is in getting some definitions here. First, are you limiting yourself to heroes who ONLY appeared in comics, or heroes who DEBUTED in comics, and what you're actually defining as a hero in the first place. Sherlock Holmes, after all, is a PD figure who's appeared in a number of comics as is Santa Claus. Though neither fall under what you might typically consider superhero fare, they could both qualify depending on your definition. The characters from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, too, are all PD and (at least in that context) considered superheroes.

Also, it should be specified that you're looking for (it seems) characters who are themselves in pubic domain, and not characters who appear in works that are in public domain. I believe all the old Fleischer Studios Superman cartoons are PD and I think it's safe to assume Superman is more popular than anyone on your list! :)

Yeah some characters such as the Spirit, Blackhawk, Shield, and Captain Marvel haven't been added to the wiki yet so they would not show up on the lists. I suspect that they would be in the top though if they were on the site. I'm surprised Plastic Man has not made the list yet.

@Sean - yeah, I think you are right, that there is some strange personal division going on by the members of the Public Domain Wiki that is (for some reason) excluding Sherlock Holmes but including Robin Hood (who showed up on one of the lists)

I think a bit of it is based on curiousity of the users of that site to look up heroes they are hearing about now (from Project Superpowers) or for some people looking up possible characters to write about.

@Jim Shelly - Captain Marvel is public domain since his first appearance was not renewed. One of the reasons he hasn't been added is fear over DC reactions from some users. I personally think he should be added. Second is that Fawcett renewed some tittles and didn't renew others. Ex. Whiz Comics issues 3-6 and 61-155 were renewed but issues 2 and 7-60 were not.

Regarding the Fawcett, Quality & MLJ characters: I think part of the problem is that there are more than a few people who don't understand what it means for something to be Public Domain. People see Archie & DC using these characters and holding onto the Trademarks and assume that Archie & DC must own these characters, which simply isn't the case.

No...Green Lama?Phantom Lady?Monster of Frankenstein (Dick Briefer version)?All have been reprinted recently.Airboy (and his ensemble including Valkyrie, Sky Wolf and The Heap)? (one of the first successful revivals)Green Hornet? (The two serials and entire Golden Age comic output are PD. No copyrights were renewed.)T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents? (The original Tower Comics series is PD)